CHAPTER II
A Scrape
Katrine and Gwethyn had been given a bedroom over the porch, a dearlittle room with roses and jasmine clustering round the windows, andwith an excellent view of the tennis lawn. They arranged theirpossessions there after tea, and when their photos, books, work-baskets,and writing-cases had found suitable niches the place began to havequite a home-like appearance.
"It's not so bad, considering it's school," commented Gwethyn; "Ibelieve I'm going to like one or two of those girls."
"I don't know whether I'm going to like Mrs. Franklin," objectedKatrine. "She's inclined to boss as if one were a kid. I hope Mothermade her quite understand that I'm past seventeen, and not an 'ordinaryschoolgirl'."
"You're younger than Viola Webster, though, or that other girl--what'sher name?--Dorrie Vernon," returned Gwethyn. "What have you got there?Oh, Katrine! A box of hairpins! Now you promised Mumsie you wouldn'tturn up your hair!"
"I was only just going to try it sometimes, for fun. When a girl is astall as I am, it's ridiculous to see her with a plait flapping down herback. I'm sure I look older than either Viola or Dorrie. Most peoplewould take me for eighteen." Katrine was staring anxiously at herself inthe glass. "I'm not going to be treated here like a junior. They needn'tbegin it."
"Oh, you'll settle them all right, I dare say!" answered Gwethynabstractedly. She was calculating the capacities of the top drawer, and,moreover, she was accustomed to these outbursts on the part of hersister.
Katrine put the hairpins, not on the dressing-table, but in a handy spotof her right-hand drawer, where she could easily get at them. It wasabsurd of Gwethyn to make such a fuss, so she reflected. A girl of onlyfifteen cannot possibly enter into the feelings of one who is nearlygrown up.
She preserved a rather distant manner at supper. It would not bedignified to unbend all at once to strangers. Gwethyn, always toohail-fellow-well-met with everybody, was talking to her next neighbour,and evidently eliciting much information; an unrestrained chuckle on herpart caused Mrs. Franklin to cast a glance of surprise at thatparticular portion of the table. By bedtime both the new-comers werefeeling serious; they would not for the world have confessed tohome-sickness, but Katrine observed that she hoped vessels bound forAustralia never blundered into German mines, and Gwethyn said she hadseen in one of the papers that there was an outbreak of enteric amongthe troops in Egypt, and she wondered if it were in Hereward's regiment;neither of which remarks was calculated to raise their spirits.
The beds had spring mattresses, and were quite as comfortable as thoseat home. By all ordinary natural laws the girls, tired with theirjourney, ought to have slept the slumbers of the just immediately theirheads touched their pillows. Instead of doing anything so sensible, theylay talking until they were both so excited and so thoroughly wideawakethat sleep refused to be wooed. Hour after hour they tossed and turned,counting imaginary sheep jumping over gates, repeating pieces of poetry,and trying the hundred-and-one expedients that are supposed to beinfallible brain lullers, but all with no effect. Outside, owls werehooting a continual dismal concert of "twoo-hoo-hoo!"
"I like owls from a natural history point of view," groaned Katrine,"and I've no doubt they're only telling one another about fat mice andsparrows; but I wish they'd be quiet and not talk! They're far moredisturbing than trams and taxis."
"Talk of the peace of the country! I should like to know where it is!"agreed Gwethyn, turning her pillow for the fourteenth time. "There's acock crowing now, and a dog barking!"
"It's impossible to sleep a wink," declared Katrine, jumping out of bedin desperation, and drawing aside the window curtain. "I believe it'sgetting light."
There was a stirring of dawn in the air. All the world seemed wrapped ina transparent grey veil, just thin enough for objects to loom dimlythrough the dusk. She could see the heavy outlines of the trees at thefarther side of the lawn. A thrush was already giving a preliminarynote, and sparrows were beginning to twitter under the eaves.
"What's the use of stopping in bed when one can't sleep?" exclaimedKatrine. "Let us dress, find our machines, and go for a spin."
"What! Go out now?"
"Why not? People are supposed to get up early in the country."
"All right! If you're game, I am."
The two girls had not been accustomed to much discipline at home, andtheir notions of school rules were rudimentary. The idea of getting upso early and going out to explore struck them both as delightfullyenterprising and adventurous. They made a hurried toilet, creptcautiously downstairs, and found the passage at the back of the house,where their bicycles had been temporarily placed the night before. Itwas an easy matter to unbolt a side door, and make their way through thegarden and down the drive. Before the day was much older, they wereriding along the quiet dim road in that calm silence that precedes thedawn. The air was most fresh and exhilarating. As their machines spedthrough the grey morning mist, they felt almost as if they were onaeroplanes, rushing among the clouds. At first all was dark and vagueand mysterious, but every minute the light was growing stronger, andpresently they could distinguish the gossamer, hung like a tangled magicweb upon the hedges, in dainty shimmering masses, as if the pixies hadbeen spinning and weaving in the night, and had not yet had time tocarry off the result of their labours.
"It's just like a fairy tale," said Gwethyn. "Do you remember the boywho sat on the fox's tail, and they went on and on till his hairwhistled in the wind? Those rabbits ought to stop and talk, and tell usabout Brer Terrapin and the Tar Baby. I'm sure Uncle Remus is squattingat the foot of that tree. We shall meet the goose-girl presently, Iexpect."
"What a baby you are! But it is lovely, I agree with you. Oh, Gwethyn,look at the sky over there! That's a fairy tale, if you like. Let's stopand watch it."
It was indeed a glorious sight. The colour, which at first had beenpearly-grey, had changed to transparent opal; then, blushing with awarmer hue, grew slowly to pink, amber, and violet. Great streamers ofrosy orange began to stretch like ethereal fingers upwards from thehorizon. The fields were in shadow, and a quiet stillness reigned, as ifthe world paused, waiting in hope and expectancy for that fresh and everwonderful vision, the miracle of the returning dawn. Then the greatshimmering, glowing sun lifted himself up from among the mists in themeadows, gaining in brilliance with every foot he ascended till thelight burst out, a flood of brightness, and all the landscape wasradiant. At that, Mother Earth seemed to bestir herself. With the newday came the fresh pulse of life, and the reawakening of myriads ofnature's children. The first lark went soaring into the purply-blueoverhead; the chaffinches began to tweet in the elms; a white butterflyfluttered over the hedge; and a marvellous busy throng of insect lifeseemed suddenly astir and ahum. It was a different world from that ofan hour before--a living, breathing, working, rejoicing world; theshadows and the mystery had fled, and left it as fair as if justcreated.
"It was worth getting up for this!" said Katrine. "I've never seen sucha transformation scene in my life. I wish I could paint it. But whatcolours could one use? Nothing but stained glass could give thatglowing, glorious, pinky violet!"
"I haven't the least idea where we are, or how far away from theschool," said Gwethyn. "We rode along quite 'on spec.', and we may havecome two miles or five, for anything I know. Yes, it has been lovely,and I see you're still wrapt in a sort of rapturous dream, and up amongrosy clouds, but I've come down to earth, and I'm most unromanticallyhungry. It seems years since we had supper last night. I wonder if wecouldn't find a farm, and buy some milk."
"Rose madder mixed with violet lake, and a touch of aureolin and Italianpink might do it!" murmured Katrine.
"No, it wouldn't! They'd want current coin of the realm. Have you anypennies left in your coat pocket?"
"You mundane creature! I was talking of the sunrise, and not of meremilk. Yes, I have five pennies and a halfpenny, which ought to buyenough to take a bath in."
"I don't want a bath, only a glassful. But it'
s a case of 'first catchyour farm'. I don't see the very ghost of a chimney anywhere, nothingbut fields and trees."
"Better go on till we find one, then," said Katrine, mounting hermachine again.
They rode at least half a mile without passing any human habitation;then at last the welcome sight of a gate and barns greeted them.
"It looks like the back of a farm," decided Gwethyn. "Let us leave ourbikes here, and explore."
Up a short lane, and across a stack-yard, they penetrated into anorchard. Here, under a maze of pink blossom, a girl of perhaps twelve orthirteen, with a carriage whip in one hand and a bowl in the other, wasthrowing grain to a large flock of poultry--ducks, geese, and hens--thatwere collected round her.
"The goose-girl, by all that's wonderful! I told you it was a fairy-talemorning!" whispered Gwethyn. "Now for it! I'll go and demand milk. Howought one to greet a goose-girl?"
She stepped forward, but at that moment a large collie dog that had beenlying unnoticed at the foot of an apple tree, sprang up suddenly, andfaced her snarling.
"Good dog! Poor old fellow! Come here, then!" said Gwethyn in awheedling voice, hoping to propitiate it, for she was fond of dogs.
Instead of being pacified by her blandishments, however, it showed itsteeth savagely, and darting behind her, seized her by the skirt. Gwethynwas not strong-minded. She shrieked as if she were being murdered.
"Help! Help!" yelled Katrine distractedly.
The goose-girl was already calling off the dog, and with a well-directedlash of her long whip sent him howling away. She walked leisurely up tothe visitors.
"You're more frightened than hurt," she remarked, with ahalf-contemptuous glance at Gwethyn. "What do you want here?"
"We came to ask if we could buy some milk," stammered Katrine. "Isuppose this is a farm?"
"No, it isn't a farm, and we don't sell milk."
The girl's tone was ungracious; her appearance also was the reverse ofattractive. Her sharp features and sallow complexion had an unwholesomelook, her hair was lank and lustreless, and the bright, dark eyes didnot hold a pleasant expression. She wore a blue gingham overall pinaforethat hid her dress.
"Where are you from? And what are you doing here so early?" shecontinued, gazing curiously at Katrine and Gwethyn.
"We've bicycled from Aireyholme----" began Gwethyn.
"You're never the new girls? Oh, I say! Who gave you leave to go out?Nobody? Well, I shouldn't care to be you when you get back, that's all!Mrs. Franklin will have something to say!"
"Do you know her, then?" gasped Gwethyn.
"Know her? I should think I do--just a little! If you'll take my advice,you'll ride back as quick as you can. Ta-ta! I must go and feed mychickens now. Oh, you will catch it!"
She walked away, chuckling to herself as if she rather enjoyed theprospect of their discomfiture; as she turned into the garden she lookedround, and laughed outright.
"What an odious girl! Who is she?" exclaimed Katrine indignantly. "Shenever apologized for her hateful dog catching hold of you. What doesshe mean by laughing at us? I should like to teach her manners."
"Perhaps we'd better be riding back," said Gwethyn uneasily. "They saidbreakfast was at eight o'clock. I haven't an idea what the time is. Iwish we'd brought our watches."
They had cycled farther than they imagined, and in retracing their roadthey took a wrong turning, consequently going several miles out of theirway. They were beginning to be rather tired by the time they reachedAireyholme. The excitement and romance of the spring dawn had faded.Life seemed quite ordinary and prosaic with the sun high in the heavens.Perhaps they both felt a little doubtful of their reception, thoughneither was prepared to admit it. As they wheeled their machines pastthe lower schoolroom window, where the girls were at early morningpreparation, a dozen excited heads bobbed up to look at them. They tookthe bicycles through the side door, and left them in the passage. In thehall they met Coralie Nelson, going to practice, with a pile of music inher hand.
"Hello! Is it you?" she exclaimed. "So you've turned up again, afterall! There's been a pretty hullabaloo, I can tell you! Were you tryingto run away?"
"Of course not," declared Katrine airily. "We were only taking a littlerun on our bikes before breakfast. It was delicious riding so early."
"Was it, indeed! Well, you are the limit for coolness, I must say! You'dbetter go and explain to Mrs. Franklin. She's in the study, andparticularly anxious to have the pleasure of seeing you. Hope you'llhave a pleasant interview!"
"Hope we shall, thanks!" returned Katrine, bluffing the matter off aswell as she could. "I can't see what there is to make such a fuss about!We're not late for breakfast, I suppose?"
"Oh dear me, no! You're in excellent time!" Coralie's tone wassarcastic. "Punctuality is considered a great virtue at Aireyholme.Perhaps you may be congratulated upon it! I won't prophesy! On the wholeI wouldn't change into your shoes, though!"
"We don't want you to," retorted Gwethyn.
The two girls tapped at the study door, and entered with well-assumednonchalance. Katrine, in particular, was determined to show hersuperiority to the conventions which might hedge in ordinary pupils. Agirl of seventeen, who had left school last Christmas, must not allowherself to be treated as the rest of the rank and file. At the sight ofthe Principal's calm, determined face, however, her courage began toslip away. Somehow she did not feel quite so grown-up as she hadexpected. Mrs. Franklin had not kept school for fifteen years fornothing. Her keen, grey eyes could quell the most unruly spirit.
"Katrine and Gwethyn Marsden, what is the meaning of this?" she beganperemptorily. "Who gave you leave of absence before breakfast?"
"We saw no reason to ask," replied Katrine. "We couldn't sleep, so wethought we'd get up early, and take a spin on our machines."
"Please to understand for the future that such escapades are strictlyforbidden. There are certain free hours during the day, and there aredefinite school bounds, which one of the monitresses will explain to youlater on. No girl is allowed to exceed these limits without specialpermission."
"'THE GOOSE GIRL, BY ALL THAT'S WONDERFUL!' WHISPEREDGWETHYN"]
"But I thought Mother said I wasn't to be in the ordinary school," urgedKatrine.
"Your mother has placed you in my charge," frowned Mrs. Franklin, "andmy decision upon every question must be final. While you are atAireyholme you will follow our usual rules. I make exceptions fornobody. Don't let me have to remind you of this again."
The Principal's manner was authoritative; her large presence andhandsome Roman features seemed to give extra weight to her words. Shewas evidently not accustomed to argue with her pupils. Katrine, withthose steely blue eyes fixed upon her, had the wisdom to desist fromfurther excuses. She left the room outwardly submissive, though inwardlyraging. At seventeen to be treated like a kindergarten infant, indeed!Katrine's dignity was severely wounded. "I don't believe I'm going tolike this place," she remarked to Gwethyn as they went upstairs.
The rest of the morning until dinner-time seemed a confused whirl to theMarsdens. Last night they had been let alone, but now they wereinitiated into the many and manifold ways of the school. They wereplaced respectively in the Sixth and Fifth Form; desks and lockers wereapportioned to them; they were given new books, and allotted certaintimes for practising on the piano. At the eleven-o'clock interval theymade the more intimate acquaintance of at least half of theirschool-fellows.
"Did you get into a scrape with Mother Franklin?" asked Coralie. "Theidea of your going gallivanting off on your own this morning! By theby, your bikes have been put in the shed with the others. It's locked upat night. We get special exeats sometimes to go long rides, so don'tlook so doleful. Shall I tell you who some of the girls are? You knowViola Webster, our captain, and Dorrie Vernon, our tennis champion? Thatfair one, talking to them, is Diana Bennett. They're our monitresses.Those inseparables are Jill Barton and Ivy Parkins. The one with twopig-tails is Rose Randall; and those round-faced kids are Belgianrefug
ees--Yvonne and Melanie de Boeck. They're supposed to be improvingour French, but as a matter of fact they talk English--of a sort--mostof the time. That's Laura Browne playing tennis left-handed. I warn youthat she's sure to take you up hotly for a day or two, while you're new,but she'll drop you again afterwards. Anyone else you'd like to askabout? I'll act school directory!"
Coralie rattled on in a half good-natured, half quizzical fashion,giving brief biographical sketches of her companions, introducing some,and indicating others. Most of the girls were collected round the tennislawn watching the sets. A group of juniors seated on a bench attractedKatrine's attention. Standing near them, though somewhat apart, was onewhose thin angular figure and sharp pale face seemed familiar; evenwithout the blue overall pinafore it was easy enough to recognize her.Katrine nudged Gwethyn, and both simultaneously exclaimed: "Thegoose-girl!"
"Who is that dreadful child?" asked Katrine. "We met her while we wereout this morning, and she wasn't civil. Her face is just the colour ofa fungus!"
Coralie laughed.
"Oh! that's Githa Hamilton. She's not exactly celebrated for her sweettemper."
"So I should imagine. What was she doing out of bounds before seveno'clock?"
"She's not a boarder. She lives with an uncle and aunt, and comes toschool on her bicycle. She's the only day-girl we have. I'd hate to be aday-girl--you're out of everything."
"I shouldn't think such an extraordinary little toadstool would be inanything, even if she were a boarder," commented Gwethyn, who had notforgiven the savage assault of the collie, and the contemptuous "You'remore frightened than hurt!" of its mistress.
"You're about right there. Githa's no particular favourite, even in herown form."
"If I'd straight lank hair like that, I'd friz it every night," declaredGwethyn emphatically. "She's the plainest girl in the school! That's myopinion of her!"